Quoting: Wreckless
1) flat cap
2) who do you consider to be a comparable player to Phil Danault who makes $5.3mm (even before COVID)?
The best comp that I can think of for Danault is (strangely) Lars Eller.
Here are all the possible ways that I can think of these two comparing.
Danault, drafted in the 1st round, 26th overall.
Eller, drafted in the 1st round, 13th overall.
advantage: Eller
Both drafted by other teams and then traded to the Habs at a similar stage in their career.
Danault's 2 year bridge contract coming out of ELC: $912,500
Eller's 2 year bridge contract coming out of ELC: $1,150,000
advantage: Eller
Danault's 3rd contract, signed with the Habs, 3x$3.083mm
Eller's 3rd contract, signed with the Habs, 4x$3.5mm
advantage: Eller
Danault's 4th contract: ?
Eller's 4th contract, signed with the Caps, 5x$3.5mm
Eller's expected role during the 4th contract: 3rd line center. 200 foot player with disproportionately defensive responsibilities.
Danault's expected role during the 4th contract: 3rd line center. 200 foot player with disproportionately defensive responsibilities.
Eller's health and size: never seriously injured in 10 full NHL seasons. 6'2" 205lbs.
Danault's health and size: injured 30 games in 1 of 5 full NHL seasons. 6'1" 201lbs.
advantage: Eller
Eller's performance in the regular season: 132g 164a 296pts in 754g. best ever season last year at 16g 23a 39pts in 69 games. high in goals at 18.
Danault's performance in the regular season: 50g 125a 175pts in 339g. best ever season last year at 13g 34a 47pts in 71 games. high in goals at 13.
advantage: Eller for gpg, Danault for ppg.
Eller's performance in the playoffs: 14g, 31a, 45p in 86g. Best seasons, 5g, 7a, 13p in 17g and 7g, 11a, 18p in 24g
Danault's performance in the playoffs: 1g, 4a, 5p in 16g. Best seasons, 0g, 2a, 2p in 6g and 1g, 2a, 3p in 10g
advantage: Eller by a mile.
Faceoff stats:
advantage: Danault.
+/-
advantage: Danault.
Team success in both the regular season and playoffs:
advantage: Eller
I think you can reasonably make the case that Danault can (and likely will) be paid more than Eller, but how much is too much? In many of these categories, Eller holds a significant edge. Is Danault really worth more than $1mm more than Eller? Especially now with COVID and an expected flat cap for multiple seasons?